Back on grass, two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur is thriving again. The Tunisian scored her first Top 5 win in nearly two years with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat of No. 4 seed Jasmine Paolini in the Berlin Tennis Open second round.
Jabeur had struggled with the Italian in their most recent meetings, coming out on the losing side of the last three (including one via retirement in Miami this year). But her last victory over Paolini, in the first round of Eastbourne 2023, was also on grass, and she has now won both of their encounters on the surface.
The result was Jabeur’s first Top 5 win since Wimbledon 2023, where she defeated four consecutive Grand Slam champions — Bianca Andreescu, Petra Kvitova, Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka — to reach the final. It also marks the first time she has won consecutive matches since February.
The 2022 champion in Berlin, Jabeur has also delivered a more authoritative scoreline with each round this week. In her first qualifying round, she had to save two match points to overcome Elsa Jacquemot 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(7), and then she lost her second qualifying round 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 to Wang Xinyu. However, after receiving a lucky loser spot, Jabeur has not dropped a set in the main draw so far.
Jabeur advances to her fourth quarterfinal of the year — but has lost her last eight matches in that round (plus a walkover at Zhengzhou 2023), stretching back to her most recent title at Ningbo 2023. She will bid to snap that streak against either Diana Shnaider or Marketa Vondrousova.
Earlier, No. 8 seed Paula Badosa also reached her fourth quarterfinal of 2025 after defeating Emma Navarro 7-6(2), 6-3. Badosa led 5-2 in the first set, only for Navarro to strike back with a four-game run to lead 6-5. However, the Spaniard resumed control in the tiebreak and sustained her level in the second set, firing a series of booming backhands to stay on the front foot.
More to come…
